


a long way from the playground

by sevenbraincells



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Dialogue Heavy, Everyone Is Gay, Friendly banter, Healthy Exes, Implied Anxiety, Late Night Conversations, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Missing Scene, S1EP5, The Other Side of Hollywood, i kind of hate this bye
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:07:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27066127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sevenbraincells/pseuds/sevenbraincells
Summary: after the hollywood ghost club, and the band breaking up, alex couldn't sleep.neither could luke.the two take that as an opportunity to talk.(missing scene: after episode five, 'The Other Side Of Hollywood'.)
Relationships: Alex/Luke Patterson (past), Alex/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Comments: 3
Kudos: 149





	a long way from the playground

It was the night everything went wrong. Alex couldn’t deny that, nor could he deny that it was his fault. _He_ was the one who met the guy who introduced them. The one who thought it was a good idea to take advice from a ghost. And now they bailed on Julie. 

And Julie was mad, rightfully so. He couldn’t find it in himself to blame her. 

Because he was too busy blaming himself. 

Which is why he couldn’t sleep. 

A repeating noise of...something else definitely didn’t help him either. 

So he stood up, knowing it was safe for him to explore - even if it was a horror-movie type situation, he couldn’t die if he was already dead, right? He thought, managing to forget about the jolts the three of them had gotten in the gym at Julie’s school. 

It didn’t take him long to find the source of the noise. Luke. 

Reggie, of course, was out like a light. 

He’d taken a bath and having been exhausted, he _knew_ that he was going to get a nice and restful sleep. The same couldn’t be said for the other two guys. 

“What are you doing awake?” Luke said, having seen Alex as he climbed down from the loft. 

“Same goes for you, bro.” 

“Couldn’t sleep.”

“Me neither,” Alex said, taking Luke’s earlier words as an invitation to sit down next to him on the couch. 

“Want to talk about it?”

“No, not really.” Alex paused. “Actually, no, not at all. I’m just going to spiral again.”

“Gotcha.” Luke said, and Alex felt like he was trying to make finger guns. 

“Are those supposed to be…” Alex was taken aback. “Finger guns?”

Luke only nodded. He was lucky that Alex could actually see him nodding. 

“What’s up with you?” Alex asked instead, turning to face his best friend. 

“Nothing.” Luke only said. 

“Don’t lie.”

“I’m just-”

“Julie?” Alex said after Luke trailed off. 

“Yeah.”

“You like her, don’t you?”

“Maybe, I don’t know, yeah,” Luke said and stood up. “It’s just, it’s been a while, and- I don’t know. It’s complicated.”

“I get it,”

“You do?”

“No, not really.”

“What about Willie?” 

Alex just sat there, not knowing what expression to wear on his face. 

“What about, what about Willie?” Alex said instead. 

“You have a crush on him,” Luke said, matter-of-factly. 

“I don’t.”

“Alex, I already told you, I’m happy for you.” 

“That’s not it.”

“It’s not?”

“Then what is it?” 

“I don’t know, it’s what you said. It’s been so long. And I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m _really_ awkward.”

“Whatttttttt, no way!” Luke said, but his voice was dripping in sarcasm.

“Ha ha ha.” 

“So, awkward?”

“That and the way that I think about every word I say and pick it apart for days after.”

Luke only nodded. 

“And it’s what we love about you.” 

“Thanks man.”

“No, seriously. If he doesn’t see how great you are, then screw him.”

“Okay.”

“You deserve someone great, I’m telling you.” Luke seemed to notice the look on Alex’s face and stopped. “Why are you looking like - that?” 

“Getting relationship advice from an ex isn’t how I expected the afterlife to go.”

“But you’re also getting relationship advice from your _best friend_.”

“Fair point.” 

“Come on man, if you like him, tell him.”

“It’s not that easy.”

“I’ve seen the way he looks at you, trust me.”

“I swear, if you’re wrong-”

“I’m not. And if I am-”

“I’ll kill you. Deal,” Alex said, extending out his arm to shake Luke’s.

“Not what I was going to say but okay,” Luke said, taking Alex’s hand to shake on it. “You think you’ll be able to fall asleep now?”

“As long as I don’t have to get up.”

Luke shifted to give Alex room on the couch. “Ta-da.”

“Love you bro,” Alex said as he curled up in a ball to sleep.

“Love you too,” Luke said, laying down opposite from his best friend. Well, one of them, at least. Reggie was out like a light somewhere else. But no matter how far apart they were, they’d always be together. 

They always had been together - and there for each other - ever since they met when they were kids. It’d been a long time since then, since their life was just a little playground, but they still had each other. 

***

Luke and Alex both pretended they didn’t feel the jolt of energy that came when they were sleeping next to each other, because they didn’t want the other to worry. 

But they still did.

**Author's Note:**

> *pretends that i actually understand and can write their dynamic*


End file.
